Hamil(ton) of Fun in New York

If there’s one thing I’ll do, it’s eat anything my childhood best friend’s family tells me to. If they told me a shack in the woods had the best risotto in Cincinnati, I’d make a reservation. If they said they found the best place for empanadas, but you just have to take a short whitewater raft ride to get there, I’d put on a life jacket. If they lead, I’ll follow.

Okay, that may be a bit melodramatic, but my point is that they have great taste when it comes to food, and often have recommendations and ideas when it comes to great restaurants and better food. That why I was not surprised roughly ten years ago, when I woke up one morning on my first trip to New York to my friend’s aunt and uncle returning from an early morning venture, telling us they read about an awesome bagel place, so they got up early and stood in a long line to purchase several bagels, tubs of cream cheese, and lox.

I had never had lox before, but I was pretty stoked to eat a slab of it on a bed of freshly-made cream cheese and chewy bagel, which I was told had been made just that morning.

It was the best damn bagel I ever had. And that’s exactly how my love affair with Russ & Daughters began. I would dream about that bagel. I would randomly bring that bagel up in conversation. I would daydream about that bagel.

One year for my birthday, my best friend would send me a shipment of bagels and cream cheese from Russ & Daughters, and it would be the best birthday present I ever received.

But a mere ten years after first enjoying that bagel, I finally had the opportunity to have that bagel, fresh in the morning, one more glorious time.

I woke up, put on my best cosplay of the Rock, and headed out the door.

I put on this outfit because I genuinely like it, but before leaving realized I had the Rock’s iconic turtleneck-chain-fanny-pac situation going on. I embraced it.

And at last, my love had come along.

I hadn’t gone to the store on the last trip, but the sign is absolutely killer.

The line was pretty long when I got inside, so out of social anxiety I immediately headed to the back to assess the situation. This was when I realized that everyone had pulled a ticket from the counter when they walked in, and customers would be served in order of the number on their ticket. I realized this after waiting for some time, like an idiot. So then I had to walk to the front of the store in front of all of the other customers, like an idiot, to get my little ticket.

But it was all fine, because in the end I got the classic bagel sandwich on an everything bagel, which included plain cream cheese, salmon, tomato, onion, and capers. I also snagged a freshly-squeezed orange juice.

I had a dream of myself enjoying the bagel at Washington Square Park, so I headed there to enjoy my feast.

Look at how cute their paper wrapping is!

The weather was perfect, and the park was pretty quiet, which was nice. I picked a bench with a nice view of the arch and unwrapped my treasure. We’re going to get two different angles of this guy.

I’m not joking, my mouth is watering right now. It. Was. So. Damn. Good.

They were generous with the salmon!

I sat and people-watched, observed the beautiful fountain, and chewed on this heavenly bagel. The simple pleasures of life.

During my last visit, Washington Square Park was one of my favorite places. We walked through it just after dark, when the city was really becoming alive and the lights were illuminating the square. The world felt massive and tiny all at once. It was gorgeous, and for a long time it was one of my favorite places in the world because of that small moment.

It felt completely different to me this time – oddly, the park felt bigger but the arch felt smaller. Perspective is weird in that way.

From here, I walked through the park to the Strand Book Store. I’d been too busy mowing down my bagel to try the orange juice, but I cracked it open while walking, and I’m not joking when I tell you I stopped in my tracks after my first sip. I was truly the best orange juice I’ve ever had – it tasted incredibly fresh, and it was the perfect level of sweetness without being overbearing.

After a brief stroll, I arrived at the Strand Book Store, which was also heaven on earth for me.

Their slogan is “18 miles of books” because…well, they have 18 miles of books along four floors.

They had begun decorating for Christmas already, and had a cute book tree display.

They had stacks of The Great Gatsby right away at the front, which I took as a good sign.

I perused many of the aisles of books, wishing I could spend the entire day there, exploring each floor.

It was honestly extremely overwhelming at first, because I wanted to look at every. single. book. But I knew I didn’t have the roughly thirty-seven hours it would take to accomplish that.

Instead, I perused the poetry section, always looking for a fresh find.

And of course, I had to check out their selection of F. Scott Fitzgerald. However, it turns out Scott was at the very top shelf, which was very much out of reach. I could see most of the spines, and they all looked like books I already had, so I took it as a sign and kept exploring the shop.

Their rare books floor was out of commission, but they did have cases of rare books speckled throughout the store.

And what do you know? They had the entire set of F. Scott’s works in the case.

They were so beautiful, but so expensive.

I was attempting to be good and not buy one million books, so I limited myself to two. One because it was a signed copy and it sounded extremely interesting – Bibliolepsy by Gina Apostol. I was also immediately drawn to the blind-date-with-a-book section when I walked in, and I felt like “Opposition to the Patriarchy in the Old West” was really just calling my name.

I still haven’t unwrapped it because I want to be surprised by what it is RIGHT before I read it, and I have a few books in the lineup before I’ll begin this one.

By this time, my friend Sarah had arrived in New York and was rapidly approaching our hotel, so I hightailed it back to let her in. On the way, I caught a sick view of the Empire State Building.

Sarah was extremely tired from her flight, so we immediately grabbed coffee from this adorable coffee shop near our hotel, called Blank Street Coffee. It was so good!

What was not good was lunch. We went to a place called Serendipity III and it was neither of our vibes. The place was kitschy in a way that I did not enjoy, and the food was just kind of a lot. Sarah ordered a plate of fruity pebble waffles, which were drowning in frosting and sugar. One bite was good, but a full meal was a heart attack. It was what you would expect a five-year-old to dream up for breakfast. I ordered the truffle Mac and cheese, because I am obsessed with truffles, but it was not great. I couldn’t eat much of it because it made my stomach feel a bit unsettled, and I didn’t want to get sick over a lunch I wasn’t enjoying. I wouldn’t go back, but at least now we know it wasn’t for us!

After lunch, we headed to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre were married.

It was gorgeous! They had also decorated the doors with a festive autumn decor.

The interior was even more stunning – the space was illuminated by blue-toned stained glass windows.

And irony of ironies – there was actually a wedding happening while we visited!

F. Scott and Zelda weren’t married in the main area of the cathedral, but it was still cool that there was a wedding happening while we visited. I thought it was an interesting choice for these people to be married in a tourist location, during a time when tourists were still allowed in, but hey, not my wedding!

After watching them say their vows, my friend and I simply hopped a few blocks over for our next destination: the Rockefeller Center.

They were beginning to fill up the ice rink, which we watched while we waited for 3 p.m. to roll around, as we had scheduled tickets to visit the top of the Rock. I would highly recommend a 3 p.m. time slot in the Fall months, as it was the perfect time to catch golden hour from the top of the building.

Before heading to the actual top of the Rock, we waited in line for the elevators.

The line did not take long – also, look at this beautiful chandelier!

Once we got to the top of the stairs, we had to watch a short series of videos about the Rockefeller building, which I assume are presented to help stagger the number of people being sent to the top of the building at one time.

There was also a display about the construction of the Rockefeller building – the photos of these workers are actually insane. I can’t imagine getting to the top of this building and walking along those beams.

At least, we were able to go to the top! What was interesting was that we noticed many people did not go to the actual top. The first level was absolutely swimming with people, to an uncomfortable degree. However, when we ascended to the next level, there was almost no one. We took the opportunity to take several dramatic photos of ourselves.

Hello, Empire State Building!

By the time we’d gotten to this level, the lighting was absolutely gorgeous.

We spent a lot of time looking around this level, enjoying the amazing views and taking many an overdramatic snapshot of one another. Finally, we decided to head to the actual top of the Rock, where there were a lot of people sitting and standing around, taking in the beautiful views. Below, you can see the second level, with the very top of the Rock above the concrete structures.

At the very top, there wasn’t any glass in front of you, so you were able to see clear views of the city.

Just a simple concrete barrier surrounding this level!

We also caught some lovely views of Central Park at sunset.

With our mission to view the city at sunset complete, we headed back to our hotel for a quick dinner before our final piece of excitement for the evening: seeing Hamilton on Broadway.

The last time I’d been in New York, I didn’t get to see Times Square, so we walked through it on the way to the theatre.

It was interesting, but truthfully, nothing to write home about. I feel like it’s something every New York City tourist should see once, but shouldn’t necessarily go out of their way to see. We ended up walking through it several times on our way to other destinations, and it didn’t strike me as particularly fantastic during either of our other trips.

Hamilton, however, was a different story.

Hamilton was certainly worth writing home about.

Evidently, the man originally cast to play Hamilton, before Lin-Manuel Miranda, was back on stage in Hamilton’s shoes once again – and let me tell you, he was phenomenal. The entire cast was fantastic, in fact. My only slight disappointment was in the song “Wait for It,” which is my favorite song from the musical and did in fact make it to my Spotify Wrapped for 2022. The performance was good, but it’s really hard to top Leslie Odom Jr.

I was also very pleased with our seats – I think all the seats in that theater were great, but I felt pretty close to the action.